


My, What Pointy Ears You Have

by AsagiStilinski



Series: Yugioh Advent 2018 [22]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Elf, Elves, M/M, Meet-Cute, Santa is Real, Santa's Elves, yugioh advent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-09-25 10:24:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17119577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsagiStilinski/pseuds/AsagiStilinski
Summary: Atem is looking for two things: A unique Santa Claus statue, and a freind (or potentially more than freind)The grandson of the local antique shop owner may just be able to help with both





	My, What Pointy Ears You Have

**Author's Note:**

> Day 22 of Yugioh Advent 2018- "Unique"

Atem had a very.... peculiar... hobby

He liked to collect Santa Clauses

Santa figurines, Santa ornaments, Santa collectible dishware...

It was probably a little bit obsessive, but he didn't necessarily care

The thing was, however, that he had been doing it for quite some time, and he had gotten to the point of being rather tired of the "normal" Santas

He had tired of those years ago

These days he was only interested in finding the ones that were unique, the ones that were different, things he didn't see every day

Like an ornament of Santa riding a unicorn, or a little Scottish Santa doll, or a Santa nutcracker

It was an easy scavenger hunt in the beginning, anything that wasn't the most common Santa would count as unique in the beginning, but the more time passed, the harder it became to find anything truly new and unusual

That didn't stop him though

If anything, it just made the hunt more fun, and the finds all the more rewarding

This year in particular he had had something of a rough time coming up with anything, he wasn't entirely sure why, but it just seemed like everything was very..... normal, and traditional

Even the stores he had the best luck at didn't seem to be carrying anything new and unique

Because of that, he found himself searching new and different places, some that he had never heard of, some that he had heard of before but had never actually been to

The one that caught him the most, however, was a small antique shop near the edge of town, wich carried all sorts of old, vintage, rare, and best of all, unique items

It was run by a nice little old man, who seemed to be very understanding of Atem's unusual hobby

He had located his first find of the season there, a set of Santa Russian nesting dolls, and he hoped that he would get lucky a second time

His second time there was different from the moment he stepped inside

For example, it wasn't a little old man he found behind the counter these days, more recently the old man's grandson was around, and Atem.....

Atem had yet to find a way to really talk to him

He had been in the store a couple of times since the unofficial switch happened but had always been a little too shy to actually talk to the cute guy behind the counter

Until now

Finally luck seemed to be on his side, only a few minutes after arriving in the antique shop, his eyes fell on something truly amazing- possibly the most unique Santa he had seen yet

It was made of ceramic or porcelain... something like that, ceramic, he was pretty sure, and featured Santa dressed in soft pastels, pink and purple, in the front of a sleigh, and most unique of all? What was guiding the sleigh- a polar bear...

He had to have it

Ahh... but it was in a glass case....

Inhaling a bit shakily, he made his way to the counter, smiling nervously and getting the stranger's attention

"Hello, I was wondering if you could possibly open a case for me?"

"O-Oh!! Sure!" he said quickly, grinning from ear to ear and reaching under the counter to grab his keys, hurrying out from behind it

"What um, what did you want to look at?"

"The case close to the door, I'd like to have the Santa Claus with the polar bear sleigh,"

"OOoooh I love him, we just got him in last night, I was hoping someone would come for him sooner rather than later,"

"Oh, really?" Atem asked with mild surprise

"Yeah, I mean, don't get me wrong, it's nice to have cool stuff in the shop, but it's always much better to see it find good homes, it gives a great sense of satisfaction, especially with the really odd peices,"

"Well you'll have no problems in getting rid of 'odd' peices if they're Santa Claus themed, I happen to be a large collector of that,"

"Oh wow, are you really?" the antiquer asked with seeming excitement as they arrived at the case

"That's really cool, we had a woman in here about three months ago who collected Santa things too, but only the traditional kind, if it wasn't a normal Santa- like the old vintage ones, it was neat but ... also kind of sad, everyone always goes for the most normal stuff, and the really cool, unique stuff is always left behind in one fashion or another, it's good to know that won't be the case with atleast some of it," he noted, opening the case and carefully pulling out the little statue, setting it aside just long enough to shut and lock the door again

"That's very interesting, I'm sad to say that it's not unusual though, I've come across several Santa collectors myself over the years and, like you, most of the ones I've met are looking for traditional Santas only, though there have been a few exceptions,"

It was nice being able to talk to someone about this, Atem was pretty much alone, not only in his hobby, but just... in general

It wasn't for lack of wanting, he was just bad with socialization, and oftentimes he tried to make freinds with someone but for whatever reason they didn't reciprocate

He may be over-reaching but.... he really hoped this fellow antique nerd would become his freind, or, maybe even more, in his wildest dreams

"I'm glad to hear that, maybe some of those exceptions will roll my way," he suggested with a smile, leading Atem back to the check-out counter

"I'm Yugi Muto, by the way, my grandfather owns this store,"

Oh, so that was the connection between them....

"Yugi hm? It's a pleasure to meet you, my name is Atem," he greeted in return, holding his hand out politely

Yugi shook it with a gentle but firm grip, a warm expression on his face as he somewhat reluctantly let go and set the statue down

"It's nice to meet you too, were you looking at anything else today or will this be all?"

"Just this for now, though believe me, I do intend to come back again, your store is really quite lovely,"

"Thanks, it's all due to my grandfather, he used to be an archeologist and when he got too old for that he opened this place, he has a great eye for antiques,"

"I can imagine how, archeology must be an excellent training ground for spotting valuables in rumble,"

"You'd think that, but Grandpa has also learned that not all trash is someone else's treasure, you should have seen this place when it first opened, things an archeologist may find interesting like broken pottery and stray bones don't exactly fetch a high price with consumers," Yugi replied with a laugh, ringing up the statue and bending down to get some papper to wrap it in

"Oh I can imagine, it took me some time to learn that you cannot, in fact, make a game out of everything,"

Yugi blinked, head tilting curiously as he rose back up

"Oh, are you a game developer?"

"I'm afraid not, but I used to make toys for several years, I quit in favor of nursing, but... that career didn't quite pan out, so I ended up as a baker instead,"

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear about the nursing not working out, but atleast baking sounds like a pretty fun job,"

"It is, I actually enjoy it, and in honesty, I didn't quit toy making because of the career, but because I wanted to move here,"

"Really?" Yugi asked in surprise, head tilting as Atem handed over his debit card

"If I may ask, where is it you moved from?"

"The North Pole,"

That brought Yugi to pause, debit card half inserted into the card reader, eyebrows raised, as he stared at the other

"So.... you made toys and lived in the North Pole.... you wouldn't happen to be one of Santa's elves would you?" he asked teasingly

"Actually yes, I was,"

.......

Riiiiiiight......

"Very funny," Yugi laughed affectionately, chuckling quietly to himself as he ran Atem's card through and handed it back

"No I... I'm serious, I really did work for Santa," Atem insisted with a bit of a pout, reaching up to remove the winter hat he was wearing and tilting his head for Yugi to see- ... his... pointed ears...

Atem's ears weren't just _slightly_ pointed like a human's may occasionally be

They were really and truly elf-like, long and slender, and _definitely_ not human

Yugi wasn't really sure what to do with that

Mostly, he sort of just stood in silence with his jaw practically on the ground

"Ah.... Yugi? Are you alright?" Atem asked a bit worriedly, finally managing to snap the other out of his slight stupor

"I- ... you- ...... you aren't kidding..... are you?"

"About .. being an elf? No, why would I kid about something like that?"

The very fact that Atem really asked that was enough of a reason to believe that he wasn't human

"Ah ... I suppose you ... might have a point,"

He didn't have a point, but Yugi was sort of working through the fact that apparently Santa and all of his compatriots were real, so he was unpacking alot at the moment

"I hope you don't mind my asking, but ... can I ask about... well... _everything_? Santa, elves, reindeer..... how does it all- .. I mean..... how does- ... well-"

"I don't mind answering any question you can ask," Atem laughed, his expression amused and gentle and full of warmth

"Perhaps ... we could discuss these things over coffee?"

Yugi nodded slowly, handing over the bag with Atem's new statue in it

"Coffee sounds fantastic, I get off at seven, will that work?"

"Seven, that's perfect,"

Maybe, just maybe, Yugi would end up being even more than just a freind after all....


End file.
